European Journal of Education Studies
ISSN: 2501 - 1111
ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
Volume 3 │Issue 6 │2017
doi: 10.5281/zenodo.806824
USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY
OF PUPILS AT TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
Gabriel Kwame Ankrah1i,
Doris Nyanta2,
Kwasi Opoku3
1,3
Valley View University,
Techiman Campus, Techiman, Ghana
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
2
Abstract:
The study was undertaken to unearth and implore the necessary strategies to blend five
and six letters to form a meaningful word. The research instrument used was test items.
All the pupils in the class took the same test thus, pre-test. It was used to gather data
baseline information before the research was carried out on them. Biographic data of
their responses were analyzed, discussed and the findings brought to the face. The
study revealed the areas in which the pupils falter when reading and the appropriate
techniques and strategies were used to control its occurrence. Based on the findings, the
researcher gave some recommendations. Teachers should have mastery over the subject
matter and also use the appropriate methods in the teaching of the topic. Again, they
should make their lessons child centered to avoid scaring the pupils off. The study
further opens the door for more research into pupil’s inability to blend five and six
letters to form meaningful words.
Keywords: phonic method, poor reading ability, Techiman, form one
I. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1. Introduction
This chapter comprises the background of the study, which gives an insight into the
study, statement of the problem, highlighting the existed and newly found problems
about the study, the objectives of the study, the significance of the study, which
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.
© 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group
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Gabriel Kwame Ankrah, Doris Nyanta, Kwasi Opoku
USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
identifies the people and organization that will benefit from this scope of the study,
limitations of the study, the definition of key terms used in this chapter and how the
study is organized. This chapter provided the reader with an overview of the research.
Modern society deems the ability to read as one of the most requisite skills to
succeed at school and in the workplace. According to Pretorius & Machet (2004) as cited
in Klapwijk (2011), all academic attainment depends to a greater degree on reading
literacy.
Parris, Gambrell and Schleicher (2008, p10) argue that the capacity to read is the
primary need for full participation in one‘s society and economy. However, developing
the skills to read happily is not a simple process. Reading is more than the ability to
recognize letters and decode words. Reading is ultimately about composing meaning
from written text (Juel & Graves, 1998. In other words, the aim of reading is to
understand what is being read. Reading comprehension requires the integration of
meaning across words, sentences and passages (Paris & Hamilton, 2009, p40).Reading
literacy has been defined as ‚the ability to understand and use those written language forms
required by society and/or valued by the individual‛ (Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and
Culture ‘MBESC’, 2004, p20). It involves the interpretation of printed words and finding
meaning in them (Wario, 1989).
Reading is a very important skill and it contributes to the success of a learner’s
school career as well as being important later in life (National Association for the
Education of Young Children, 1998). Heckman (2002) as cited in Statkus, Rivalland &
Rohl (2005) described reading as a communication skill that produces many other skills
and is a key part of our capacity to increase our performance. If learners struggle to
read, it will be difficult for them to cope in other subjects as learning involves the
understanding of concepts, the enhancement of thinking skills and the overall academic
development of the learners. The key to success, national growth and development
greatly depends on Education. It is an undisputable fact that English Language is the
Lingua Franca of Ghana. Recently, there has been a drastic reduction in the
performance of English Language at all levels of education in Ghana. This has made the
ministry of Education, teachers, stakeholders and other concerned people anxious. In
view of these concerns and for us to help our future leaders; serious attention must be
taken to address the poor reading ability in English of pupils in the secondary schools.
It was realized that, it is a problem of phonetic understanding among Techiman
Senior High School form one ‘Art 2’ pupils; during my teaching practice. The pupils
performance in English language was nothing to write home about in several
evaluation tests conducted after a lesson taught by my mentor.
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Gabriel Kwame Ankrah, Doris Nyanta, Kwasi Opoku
USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
1.1 Statement of the problem
In the course of teaching at Techiman Senior High School, It was discovered that the
pupils of form one ‘Art 2’ have problems in reading five and six letter words during
English reading lesson. The observation was that most of the pupils could not identify
some of the letters of the alphabet and pronounce simple words.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
Generally, this research work aims at building the reading skills, involving the use of
the phonic method. The reasons to undertake this research among others include the
under-mentioned. The reason of the study is to help pupils blend sounds to help them
develop words attack skills.
1.3 Research Questions
In an attempt to find out why pupils at Techiman Senior High School form One ‘Art 2’
Pupil inability to read, the following research hypotheses were raised.
Will the use of phonics help pupils overcome their difficulties in reading?
Will pupils respond well to the use of the chosen activities?
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance of the study is to bring out the benefits pupils, teachers and the
community will derive. The use of phonetic method in teaching English reading at
Techiman Senior High School form one ‘Art2’ pupils is to help them overcome their
reading difficulties and sustain their interest in reading. Pupils’ interest in reading helps
them to be more fluent.
The study will help teachers to use the appropriate methods and materials which
will help make teaching English language especially reading easy for them. Pupils’
ability to read well is of good benefit to the community at large.
1.5 Limitation
Throughout the research, there were a lot of setbacks which made the work of the
researcher a difficult one.
One of the problems that limited this project is that, much time was not at the
disposal of the researcher to carry out a comprehensive study on the problem since she
had to combine teaching practice together with the research work and also studying of
manuals.
Secondly, some pupils were not regular in school for the researcher to determine
the validity of the result. This made the work very difficult for the researcher.
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TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
Finally, the researcher faced the problem of financial constraints since she had to
visit the internet frequently to obtain information that will benefit her work.
1.6 Delimitation
The research study concentrated mainly on reading instead of any other aspect of the
English language. The research was undertaken in Techiman Senior High School form
one ‘Art 2’. It should have covered the entire form two pupils but it was limited to some
pupils in the class who lack the ability to read under the subject English language.
1.7 Organization of the study
The project work consists of five chapters which are follows:
Chapter one: Introduction to the study, statement of problem, purpose of the
study, research questions, significance of the study.
Chapter two: Review of related literature. It talks about what other researchers,
educationalists and other scholars have discussed on similar works, and also serve as a
guide to research questions hence creating a literature review summary.
Chapter three: Methodology of the project work which involves sample size,
action research design, interventions using observation questionnaire tests and
interview. On the other hand, to obtain correct data for presentation, research design
and methods are employed in the work.
Chapter four is the presentation of data and analysis. The data collected are
based on the researcher’s questions, discussions in chapter one of the project work.
Chapter five: Summary, conclusion and recommendations. A general overview
of phonetic problems and methodology are included here for future study.
1.8 Definitions of Terms
The terms that follow are defined to clarify the concepts of reading and writing on
which this study is focused.
Reading – is the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message.
It can also be defined as a simple, passive process that involves reading words in a
linear fashion and internalising their meaning one at a time (Harris, 2000).
Reading literacy: Refers to understanding, using and reflecting on written texts
in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential and to
participate in society (Programme for International Student Assessment PISA, 2006).
Cognitive skills: These are any mental skills that are used in the process of
acquiring knowledge. These skills include reasoning, perception, and intuition. Midcontinent Research for Education and Learning (1998) describes the importance of
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USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
cognitive skills in acquiring literacy skills as follows: "Reading and writing rely on a
specific set of cognitive skills such as attention, memory, symbolic thinking, and self-regulation‛.
Reading methods: A reading method is a set of teaching and learning materials
and/or activities often given a label, such as phonics method, and syllabic method.
(International Reading Association, 1998).
Phonic: a method of teaching reading and spelling based upon the phonic
interpretation of ordinary spelling. It is related to speech sounds.
Syllable: one or more letters representing a unit of spoken language consisting of
a single uninterrupted sound.
Syllabic method: it is a method of breaking words into syllabus. For instance,
individual- in-di-vi-dual, etc.
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2. The History of the English Language in Ghana
The Europeans who colonized Ghana came as conquerors and invaders. The purpose of
their journey was very specific, as such; they would employ almost any means to make
their excursion more expedient, no matter what the cost to the indigenous people.
Training in literacy of the English language in Ghana was historically been
targeted to select groups of Ghanaians. The earliest recorded teaching of the English
language to Ghanaians was to train them as interpreters to assist the British colonists in
trade. It is also documented that the colonists went so far as to send a small number of
Ghanaians to Britain to receive this training. (J. A. Sackey 1997) pp129
The second major purpose of educating Ghanaians was to make them literate so
that they could read the bible. European missionaries came to Ghana with the purpose
of imparting religion and morality upon the ‘pagan’ African. According to writer K.A.
Sey, ‚English in (Ghana) has from the very beginning been associated with Christianity…all
schools were run by Christian missionaries.” (K. A. Sey, 1973), 5
However, other schools opened to train people for jobs. Also, “…the main
objective of promoting the European languages was to train cheap manpower for the
administration of the colonies.‛ K. A. Sey, (1973), 5
Based on this policy, it can be inferred that the goal of the colonial administration
was not to provide nationwide literacy to give people the tools they need to participate
in development, but to train as many people as were needed to satisfy their personal
needs.
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2.0.1 The Importance of English Language to Ghanaian
The importance of English language in Ghana cannot be overemphasized. English is the
official language of the country. It is the language of the government. It is use to
perform all official function of the government. It is the language of Parliament,
Judiciary and the Offices, Jackson college education. ‚Practical English Methodology for
diploma in basic education‛ (by distance)
English is the unifying force in the country. Ghana is a small country, it can boast
of over thirty ethnic groups with each group speaking different dialects, M.E. Kropp
Dakubu. ‚Languages and Community‛ (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1996). No
ethnic group would like a particular language from another group to be imposed on it.
The use of English binds the people together.
English makes communication in the country very easy. This is because people
from different ethnic groups use English easily to communicate with others from other
groups.
English being an international language enables citizens of Ghana to interact
freely with people all over the world. It is an undeniable fact that English is the most
widely spoken language of the world and the ability to speak this language is a great
asset to the people of Ghana.
2.0.2 Language policies and advantages of using English Language in the Ghanaian
schools
English is the medium of instruction from basic to the highest level of education in the
country. Apart from being the medium of instruction, it is also studied as a subject from
basic one to the university. The English courses are intended to develop pupils’
language competence.
English lay a solid foundation for the students in their studies. All most all the
textbooks used from Primary one to the university are written in English. For this
reason, it makes continuity of education very easy.
English enables students of the country to pursue far the studies overseas
without any constrains. It enables students to achieve their intended careers easily.
2.0.3 Background of Techiman
Techiman is a town and is the capital of Techiman municipal of the Brong Ahafo region
of Ghana. It is the leading market town in south Ghana. It is together with Sunyani, one
of the two major cities and settlements of Brong Ahafo region. Techiman has a
settlement population of 104,212 people in 2013. Techiman is located at a historical
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crossroads of trade routes and the Tano River and serves as capital of the Techiman
Municipal Districts.
2.0.4 History of Techiman
The Akan’s, according to their oral tradition migrated from Techiman to find the coastal
plan Kessim kingdom and present central region in 1252. After Bono Manso, capital of
the Bono State, were taken by the Asante Empire in 1723, then the Bono- Techiman state
was founded in 1740 under Ashanti Sovereignty.
2.0.5 Culture
Techiman has started the construction of a modern culture Centre. The purpose of the
Centre is the preservation of the traditions of the Bono Nation. Techiman celebrates the
annual Apoo in April/May- a kind of Mardi Grass. Before 2009, the celebration of Apoo
has been suspended for several years due to the decease of the Bonoman King. The
climax of the Apoo is the durbar of the king (Omanhene) through Techiman. In August,
an annual yam ceremony takes place and it marks the end of the yam production in the
Brong Ahafo Region.
2.1 Definition of Literature Review
Collis and Hussey (2003) state that literature refers to all sources of published data and
is a written summary from literature research. Leedy and Ormrod (2010) stated that
literature review describes theoretical perspectives and previous research findings
regarding the problem at hand. The purpose of literature review is described by Akpo
(2006) as that of providing the context for the research by looking at the work of what
has already been done in the subject area. In this case, literature review is a way of
exploring the existing literature to ascertain what has been written and published on
methods of teaching reading at Senior High School. The literature review in this chapter
focuses on theories of reading and learning.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
A theoretical framework, according to Maxwell (2005), assists the researcher in
understanding what problems have been encountered with existing research and
theory, what contradictions the researcher has found in existing views, and how the
study can make an original contribution to understanding.
In this study, I used a theoretical framework for understanding teaching
methods of reading not based purely on a theoretical point of view, but also by taking
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existing practice into account, or at least acknowledging the constraints caused by the
gap between theory and practice.
In investigating the possible mismatch between training in teaching methods at
college and the teachers’ application of the methods in the classroom, the constructivist
theoretical framework was used in this study. The constructivist theory is based on the
belief that people construct their understanding of phenomena by actively interacting
with other people and ‘objects’ in the world around them (Mertens, 2010). The view in
this study was that in order for teachers to appropriately use teaching methods they
were taught in college, they would need to ‘appropriate’ (i.e. own) the methods in a
constructivist way. This is that they would not only need to understand them
theoretically but also learn how to use them in practice in the classrooms.
2.3 Defining Reading
In order to assess the manner in which the Teachers applied the teaching methods of
reading, we need to understand what reading is. According to Rockets (2011), reading
is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and
motivation. Reading also means making meaning from print. In addition, reading is
also about decoding, comprehension, narrative, familiarity with books and other
printed material and a culture of wanting to and enjoying reading (House of Commons,
20045). This goes hand in hand with (Derchant, 1993) who stated that reading involves
the recording of the printed words in the brain by the visual and perceptual processes,
converting the written symbols into language, and through cognitive and
comprehension processes creating meaning by relating the symbols to the readers’ prior
knowledge. Moreover, Harris (2006) stated that reading could be defined as the
understanding of the written text. This simply means that the end result of any act of
engagement should be comprehension of a text. She emphasized four principles of
effective readers.
These are that:
•
Effective readers do a lot of predicting.
•
Effective readers use certain strategies to help them with reading difficulties and
blockages. These include sounding out letters in words and breaking words into
parts.
•
Effective readers draw heavily on their background knowledge. This includes
past experience with reading, knowledge of sounds and words, most
importantly knowledge about the content being written in the text.
•
Effective readers are typically confident enough to read difficult text.
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Learners and teachers often have the wrong perception of what reading is and
most of the time their misunderstanding is as a result of the training they have been
given. Since the focus of my study was to find out what reading methods primary
teachers used to teach reading, these definitions clarify what reading is and how it is
important to understand all the components in order to teach reading effectively.
2.3.1 Theories of Reading
The study needed to benefit from the theoretical ways in which the teaching of reading
was understood. Vaezi (2006) identified three main theories of reading. These are the
traditional view, the cognitive view and the metacognitive view of reading. The
traditional view focuses on the printed form of a text while the cognitive view looks at
the role of background knowledge in addition to what appears on the printed page and
the metacognitive view is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have
on the act of comprehending a text.
According to Dole, Duffy, Roehler and Pearson (1991), in the traditional view of
reading, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that
sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers
are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. According to Nunan (1991), the
traditional view is the 'bottom-up' (language-based process) view of reading which
involves the decoding of a series of written symbols into their aural equivalents in the
quest of making sense of the text. According to Harris (2006), the bottom-up theories
argue that meaning is embedded in the text and that meaning travels from the ‘bottom’
(the page) ‘up’ to the eyes. This theory defines reading as beginning from letters that
form the printed words, and then form sentences, sentences form texts. The steps here
explain that the combining of small parts will eventually form a whole text from which
meaning will emerge.
According to this theory the reading process consists of a number of skills and
that children need to be taught to be able to hear and identify sounds in words
(phonemic awareness), match sounds and letters (phonics), and recognise words in
isolation with automaticity (Moller, 2013).
Smith (1978) cited in Nunan (1991) stated that reading works in the reverse order
from that proposed by the bottom-up theory. He believed that in order to identify
words we need to comprehend meaning. I partly agree with Nunan but also feel that
this theory displays that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for reading
comprehension to take place. Nunan stated that it was time consuming to teach reading
in chunks, whereas the teacher should just teach the top down theory of getting the
learners to understand the content before they are taught the sounds. Learners should
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USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
be able to identify sound in order to correctly understand words. It is the over
dependence on this theory that might limit learning to read with understanding. If
learners are taught reading focusing mostly on the bottom up theory/process they
would only know how to decode letters and not understand the words that they are
decoding.
The cognitive view is the 'top-down' (knowledge-based process) model which
directly opposes the 'bottom-up' model. According to Goodman (1967) cited in Paran
(1996) reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample
the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth.
The cognitive view encompasses the schema theory of reading which is used in the
process of interpreting sensory data, in retrieving information from memory, in
organising goals and sub-goals, in allocating resources, and in guiding the flow of the
processing system. The schema is necessary to make connections before reading, while
reading and after reading (Dilbeck, undated). Harris (2006) stated that the top-down
theories emphasise that reading begins in the head of the reader-claiming that the
reader moves from the ‘top’- the brain – down to the text on the page. Readers use their
prior knowledge stored in their memories to unlock the text. According to this theory,
without background knowledge meaning cannot be made from the text. This theory
proposes that the objective of reading is making meaning of the text by using the
readers’ background knowledge. Vialle (2000) cited in Harris, Turbill, Fitzsimmons,
&Mckenzie (2006) stated that the top-down theory adopts a constructivist stance and
links reading comprehension to factors both inside and outside the reader.
The metacognitive view according to Block (1992) defines the control readers
execute on their ability to understand a text. Metacognition involves thinking about
what one is doing while reading (Klein, Peterson and Simington, 1991). Sloan and
Whitehead (1986), Ruddell and Speaker (1985), and Rumelhart (1994) cited in Harris
(2006) suggest that while reading is predominantly a meaning – making process that is
embedded in the top-down view also requires that readers focus on skills – a position
more aligned to a bottom up view. This model of reading has taken a more social view
of reading. Readers in this view can be taught to adjust their reading strategies in a
flexible manner to choose the best strategy to meet the purpose of the current text and
their purpose for reading it.
Each view of reading can help to develop the reading capacity of learners
differently if approached correctly. All these theories are integrated and used in the
training of teachers.
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2.3.2 Methods of Reading
In this section, various methods of how to teach reading are presented with the
intention of showing what they are and how they relate to this study. According to the
International Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) (1999), various methods of teaching
reading begin by:
•
teaching learners to get meaning from whole chunks of text,
•
teaching whole words and going on to larger chunks of text,
•
teaching whole words and breaking them down into smaller parts,
•
teaching parts of words and putting them together into whole words, or
•
teaching meaning, whole words, and parts of words from the very beginning.
Common methods of teaching reading are identified by SIL International (1999)
as the analytic method, the eclectic method, the global method, the phonic method, the
sight word method, the syllable method and the synthetic method. But this study
reviews the type of reading under: Phonic Method, Syllabic method and look and say
method.
2.3.2.1 The Phonic Method
A phonic method of teaching reading relates letters (graphemes) to sounds (phonemes)
they represent (Halvorson 1992). According to Aukerman (1984), the theory behind the
phonic approach is based on two assumptions. These are:
Most languages have consistent phoneme (sound) to grapheme (letter)
correlation
Once learners have learned the relationships of the letters to the sounds, they can
pronounce printed words by blending the sounds together (Aukerman, 1984).
An alphabetic, phonic approach to teaching reading has been used for centuries
and since then it has been further developed and modified in such a way that it is used
today in varying degrees in most methods of teaching reading (SIL International, 1999).
An analytic method to reading begins with words (preferably nouns that can be easily
illustrated), then breaks the words into parts. ‚By the use of [meaningful] words the learner
can better see the relationship between reading and their own language‛ (Gudschinsky, 1973).
2.3.2.2 Syllable Method (combination of phonic and syllable methods)
A syllable method to teaching reading is a method which uses syllable recognition as
the primary word attack skill and is characterized by use of the syllable as the basic
building block or unit for decoding words whereby learners learn syllables before
reading words and text (SIL International, 1999).
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USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
2.3.3 Teaching Methods of Reading in the Techiman SHS
In this section, the teaching methods that were used in the Namibian BETD teacher
preparation program are presented. These are the phonics, whole language, look and
say, the language experience and the shared reading methods. These methods are
covered in this section to show the types of methods that were expected to be known
and used by teachers who graduated from the BETD programme.
2.3.3.1 Phonics Method
According to the phonics method, reading is a matter of learning letter-sound
relationships, and reading and memorising words in isolation (Ekwall & Shanker,
1993:1, 7; Clay, 1991b; Weaver, 1994, Adams, 1990). Phonics, as described by Adams
(1990:50), refers to ‚a system of teaching reading that builds on the alphabetic principle, a
system of which a central component is the teaching of correspondences between letters or groups
of letters and their pronunciations‛. In this method, small units like letters and short
words, along with spelling and punctuation rules, are taught in isolation, devoid of
meaning. Behaviourist scholars argue that when children learn to pronounce words
correctly, meaning will follow automatically (Weaver, 1994). Kidd (2011) felt that the
phonics approach tended to ignore the valuable information, language patterns and
reading strategies children bring to the reading experience, as well as reading and
writing simultaneously. When this method is used, children struggle to learn how to
use their acquired knowledge when approaching texts during reading because they are
forced to focus on lists of phonics, words and rules they have memorised instead of
applying strategies focused on the process behind reading. This might hamper the
ability to read in some cases. Taking Kidd’s view and what is taking place in schools at
present where most learners cannot read, I tend to agree with her. The phonic method
advocates the teaching of isolated skills such as letter names which is based on a belief
that knowing all the letter names and sounds will help learners understand and read
fluently but this is not really the case.
2.3.3.2 The Look and Say Method
The look-and-say method is used to teach reading. The basic feature of this method is
explained by Campbell (1995, p. 161) as being based on the view that ‚language is indeed
whole and it is best learnt as a whole with meaningful and relevant texts‛. This method can
also be divided into two approaches; the look-and-say whole word and the look-andsay whole sentence approach.
When teaching via the look-and-say word method, a teacher introduces words
with the help of pictures or real objects. The words are then presented on flash cards. In
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USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
this method, as explained by Hann (1984, p. 31), ‚children are taught to respond to whole
words rather than separate parts of words‛. The teacher shows a picture to the learners to
identify (e.g. a chair). When they identify the picture as a chair, the teacher then flashes
the word or writes it on the chalkboard, and tells the learners that the word is
pronounced, ‘chair’. Learners are encouraged to say the word as a whole after the
teacher. They repeat this with all the words. Once learners become confident in reading
the words, the pictures are removed. The focus of this study is to find out if teachers
used these effective approaches.
There is, however no one correct or best method/approach for teaching reading.
Findings from the research done by the Australian government found that, ‚all pupils
learn best when teachers adopt an integrated approach to learning to read that explicitly teaches
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension‛ (Australia.
Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), 2005, p.11). From this, it
appears that the use of multiple methods to accommodate the diversity of learners in
their classrooms is encouraged because ‚What works for one student or for one teacher may
not work for another. What works for one type of content may not work in another situation‛
(Wood & Algozzine, 1994, p. 6). Having said this, my study intended to establish how
teachers used phonic, syllabic and look and say reading methods when teaching
reading amongst diverse learners.
2.4 Causes of Pupils Inability to Read
A variety of reasons has been suggested for reading weaknesses. Scholars and reading
specialist classify pupils with serious difficulties as ‘retarded readers.
Katanga Irene (2005) has it to say that, the common problem associated with the
teaching and learning of language that is making it difficult for pupils to identify words
so as to pronounce the words correctly are due to the wrong method of teaching and
inadequate use of teaching and learning materials (TLMs) by some teachers.
The same author continues to say that, if one wants to induce children to read,
one must teach them to read. This means that one can only make children read by
providing them with necessary materials needed for reading.
The World Book Encyclopedia (1995) sees poor reading disabilities to be caused
by failure to concentrate. To get meaning from reading materials, a person must focus
the mind on the text. Almost all readers occasionally fail to understand the text their eye
movement perceives. Some readers, particularly young ones dealing with assigned
materials often try to read that way as though the process were so automatic as to
require no thought. But for comprehension to occur, readers must bring their
knowledge and experience to the act of gaining meaning from words. The same book
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adds to it that disability occurs as a result of insufficient experience. All readers bring
their experiences to the comprehension process.
2.5 Possible Solutions to Poor Reading
Fromkirn V., and Podman R., (1988), the teacher could help their pupils to improve
upon their reading competence by drilling the child through the following reading
process:
- Teaching the child how to break simple words into pieces and pronounce.
- Teaching the child to read mono-syllabic, (one syllable) word. Examples: oft, bid,
vile, slew, glove, tongue, yelled, rhythm, etc.
- Teaching the child to read other simple words. E.g. dumb, rage, cheeks, etc.
- Teaching the child to read single and simple sentences.
2.6 Summary of the Review
This chapter has been discussing what other authors or researchers think of reading, the
types of reading, signs of reading difficulties, causes of pupil inability to read, activities
to improve pupils’ skills and the early intervention in reading.
III. METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
Methodology is the theoretical analysis of the method applied to a field study. This
chapter deals with the process used in conducting the research. It has been divided into
five sections. These are research design population and sample selection, research
instruments and the intervention processes as well as data collection procedures and
data analysis plan.
3.1 Research Design
Research design refers to the strategy used to integrate the different components of the
research project in a cohesive and coherent way. Rather than a "cookbook" from which
one chooses the best recipe, it is a means to structure a research project in order to
address a defined set of questions (Trochim and Land, 1982)
This work is an experiment that seeks to expose a sample group to a chosen
intervention (phonic method) to find out if the people will response to it. The use of the
action research was appropriate because it offers the teacher a practical experience in
dealing with a classroom problem.
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TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
3.2 Population and Sample Selection
The population was focused on Techiman Senior High School form One ‘Art 2’ Pupils.
The number of the pupils used for the research was thirty-five (35).Out of these thirtyfive (35) pupils, eleven are (15) boys and the rest twenty (20) were girls. The samples
selection was done using the whole class of Techiman Senior High School form One
‘Art 2’ pupils.
3.3 Research Instruments
In addressing the problem under-study, the investigator applied the use of a certain
techniques to enable the acquisition of substantive data on the problem identified. The
instrument adopted was test.
3.3.1 Test
Tests were conducted to gather data for the study. There were two tests; pre-test and
post-test. The pre-test was used to gather data baseline while the post-test was used to
gather data after the intervention to make it possible for comparison between per-test
and post-test intervention performances.
A. Pre-Intervention
A pre-test was conducted to diagnose the level of pupil’s ability blend five and six
letters to form a word. The test was written on the board and pupils were asked to
provide the answers on sheet of paper. The letters of the alphabet were written on the
board in the lower case and pupils were instructed to any five or six of the alphabet to
form a word. The pupils were given thirty minutes to form any ten (10) words. After
writing the questions on the board for the pupils, they were monitored to avoid
copying. When the allocated time was due, the answer sheets were collected from the
pupils.
After marking it, it was realized that, most of them performed below average
and this revealed that the pupils were unable to blend five and six letters form a words.
B. Intervention
An intervention is a planned, often unannounced, meeting with a person with a serious
personal problem, in order to persuade the person to seek treatment. This process
consists of a set of concrete measures put in place to help solve a problem. In an attempt
to solve this problem, various activities were planned in a table form to help solve the
problem.
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C. Implementation of the Intervention
All the plans of the actions were carried out one after the other. Five weeks were used
to carry out the whole intervention and in each week, there were two meetings. The
following are the account for each week.
a) Week one: Objectives
1) Pupils will be able to recognize the alphabet and their sounds.
2) Pupils will be able to combine letters to form simple words.
Activities
Objective 1: The letters of the alphabet were written on the board. Pupils were
instructed to listen attentively whiles a passage was read. After reading, pupils were
told to read after the teacher. This was done twice and the pupils were allowed to read
as a whole before individual reading.
Objective 2: The letters of the alphabet were written on seven-by-seven manila cards.
The cards were displayed on a table and pupils were shown how the combination of
letters to form words will be done. Pupils were put into groups and each group was
asked to combine letters to form words.
b) Week two and three: Objectives
Pupils will be able to:
- Associate letters with their sounds.
- Identify the vowels and consonants from the alphabet.
- Recognize and pronounce at least eight sight words.
Activities
Pupils were taken through a revision of the alphabet before we proceeded to the next
activity. This was done by asking the pupils them to recite the alphabet one after the
other.
For the association of words with their sounds, pictures drawn were pasted on
the board and a set of cards on which initial consonants which goes with the picture
were displayed on a table. The teacher named a fruit and a pupil came and found the
consonant that went with the picture. Example: Mango<..M, Orange<.O etc. The next
activity was identification of the vowels and consonant, here the letters of the alphabet
were written on the board, it was explain to the pupil that, there are five (5) vowels
(letters) in the alphabet and the rest that is, twenty-one (21) are consonant sounds. The
vowel sounds (letters) are: /a/, /e/, /i/,/o/, /u/ and the remaining ones are the consonant.
The pupils were taken through some sight words like: night, right, sight, word, etc
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these words was written on the board, the teacher pronounce the words and the pupils
repeated after her.
c) Week three: Objectives
Pupils will be able to;
- blend sounds to form meaning words
- recognize and pronounce at least eight sight words.
Activities
There was a revision on association of words and sight words and vowels and
consonant. The letters of the alphabet was written on the board and the pupils were
asked to write all the vowel sound from it. The next activity was blending of the sound
to form meaningful words. Here, the teachers use the phonic slide and phonic wheel to
reinforce the blending of the sound. A short description was given on both the phonic
slide and phonic wheel. Afterwards, a manila card on which the phonic wheel and the
phonic slide are drawn on was pasted on the board for pupil to observe it for some
time. The letters or the sound in each cell was blend to form a meaning words.
Examples; /g/+/l/+/o/+/v/+/e/ =glove, /m/+/o/+/b/+/i/+/l/+/e/ =mobile, /b/+/r/+/o/+/o/+/m/
=broom, etc. the diagram for the phonic slide used for this activity can found in
appendix B. pupils were taking through some sight words; what, went, two, whose,
those, etc. after a successful lesson taught, an assignment was given on phonic wheel to
blend each letter (sound) to form a meaningful word.
d) Week four: Objectives
Pupils will be able to;
- Sing a short rhyme.
- Identify the words that rhyme in the poem.
- Identify and pronounce at least five sight words.
Activities
A revision was carried out on phonic wheel and phonic slide. After the assignment
given on phonic wheel was collected and mark there was a clear indication that pupils
excel tremendously. The next activity was written on a manila card and it was pasted
on the board for pupils to have a look. The rhyme was recited for pupils line by line
with correct pronunciation. It was done three times to their hearing. After that, the
pupils were permitted to read after the teacher. It took almost thirty (30) minutes for
them to capture the words.
On our next meeting, thus, on the identification of the rhyming words, pupils
were taken through phonemic awareness activity, to identify rhyming words from the
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passage. Here, words written on the Manila cards were hold out and pupils were asked
to tell the sound that begins the name of that words. Pupils’ attention was drawn to
onset and rime in phonograms e.g: hand, sand, band, land, etc.
Sound identification was the next activity. The teacher performed three examples
by clapping to the number of sounds (words) in his name.
Afterwards, pupils were given the chance to do so. But for them their names
were written on the board to know the number of the sound (words).
The rhyming words written on the manila cards, thus, a list of words with the
same ending was drop in one strange one for pupils to pick out. Examples: hat, mat, fat,
ham/sun, nun, bun, put, etc. pupils were given the opportunity to put their thumbs up
when words rhyme. Sometimes, it short from series and pupils were asked to finish.
On the next meeting, pupils were taken to the rhyme passage again after the
phonemic awareness and they were asked to identify the rhyming words from the
passage. The rhyme used for this activity can be found in appendix C.
Pupils were taken through some sight words e.g. the, next, five, shoe, down, etc.
these words was written on the board, the teacher pronounce the words and pupils
pronounce after the teacher.
e) Week five
There was only one meeting which lasted 60 minutes. This week was used for the posttest.
Post-test
The teacher selected a short passage from the pupils textbook and asked the pupils to
read it aloud after the teacher have read it to the class two times. This was done to test
whether there have been an improvement in the pupils’ reading ability. After the
passage, there were questions which the pupils were allowed to answer. This was also
done to see if the pupils were able to comprehend the passage they read. The passage
used for the post-test can be found in appendix D.
IV DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction
This chapter outlines and discusses the results of the study. A test was used in
gathering information from the entire class. The statistical tool was the frequency
distributive table alongside percentage.
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4.1 Discussion of Findings
4.1.1 Pre-test Results
All the pupils wrote the pre-test conducted on 26th February, 2016. The outcome of the
sample is shown below. The results of the pre-test and post-test are organized in table 1
and table 2.
Table 1: Analysis of the pre-test outcome
Marks (x)
Frequency (f)
fx
Number of Pupils marks (%)
0
5
0
20
1
4
4
15
2
5
10
20
3
4
12
16
4
5
20
20
5
5
20
8
6
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
8
0
0
0
9
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
£f = 25
£fx = 56
100
Mean = £fx/£f
Mean = 56/25
Mean = 2.24
Discussion: from the table 1 above, the mean marks of the pupil was 2.24 which is
approximately 2-5 marks out of the total 10 marks. Out of twenty-five pupils, only two
(2) were able to score marks from 5-10 which represent 8% of the sample. This gives a
clear indication that most of the pupils could not blend five (5) and six (6) letters of the
alphabet to form a word.
4.1.2 Post-test Results
After a successful implementation of the intervention, another test was conducted to
find out if pupils have understood the phonic method. All the pupils in the class took
part in the test. The outcome of the results is shown below.
Table 2: Analysis of the Results
Marks (x)
Frequency (f)
fx
Number of Pupils marks (%)
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
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TECHIMAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORM ONE
5
0
0
0
6
1
6
4
7
2
14
8
8
6
48
24
9
8
12
32
10
8
80
32
£f = 25
£fx = 220
100
Mean = £fx/£f
Mean = 220/25
Mean = 8.8 marks
Discussion: from the table 2 above, the mean mark of the pupils is 8.8 which is
approximately 9 out of 10 marks. All the twenty-five pupils scored more than the
average mark 5 forming 0%. Base on the analysis, there is an implication that, there has
been a great reduction in the pupils’ inability to blend five (5) 0r six (6) letters of the
alphabet to form a word. This is own to the fact that, the pupils were able to score an
average mark of the mean that is 8.8.
Also, the analysis of the two results and their discussion, it is obvious that the
materials employed has assisted to reduce the pupils inability to blend five (5) or six (6)
letters of the alphabet to form a word.
4.1.3 Pre-test and Post-test Analysis
Table 3: The table below shows the pupils pre-test results
Marks
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Frequency
5
4
5
4
5
2
0
0
0
0
0
Figure 1: Bar graph on Pre-test Analysis
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
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Table 4: The table below shows the pupils post-test results
Marks
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Frequency
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
6
8
8
8
9
Figure 2: Bar graph on post-test analysis
9
8
7
Frequency
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
10
Marks
V. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
This chapter gives a summary of the study. It includes where the study was conducted,
the sample used, how the data was collected and the instrument used for the analysis of
the data. The chapter finally concludes with a conclusion and recommendations of the
research.
5.1 Summary of Findings
The research looked at teaching reading in secondary school form one ‘Art 2’ using the
phonic method. It involved twenty-five pupils in form one from Techiman Senior High
School in the Techiman District in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
The twenty-five pupils were taken through a series of activities involving the
teaching of blending five and six letters to form a word. A pre-test in blending five and
six letters was done through. The pupils were given exercises base on which they were
scored.
Then came the intervention after the marking of the pre-test. It took about four
weeks. This was done individually and then in groups.
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A pre-test exercise was done after teaching the process to check whether there
was an improvement. Although, the improvement was very limited. Post-test was
conducted to find out how individuals had fared during the intervention process and it
was also scored.
The study portrayed a significant difference in the overall exercise. The
differences were not due to chances on a silver platter. The research literature
recommends the type of teaching techniques used in the intervention. In totality these
lend credence to the researcher’s use of phonics method as an effective intervention and
very worthwhile. The scores for the post-test showed an immense improvement and a
step in the right direction.
5.2 Conclusion
The study, which sought to teach blending five and six letters to form a word (phonic
method), was conducted at Techiman Senior High School ‘Art 2’ in the Techiman
District. The study tried to intervene by instituting strategies to enhance it through
various activities organized to arrive at this point, the researcher is of the firm
conviction that the study was worth time spent and timely too.
5.3 Recommendations
It is the researcher’s heart desires that the following under listed recommendations and
suggestions are given a second thought to help improve the standard of pupils’ phonics
at the secondary level.
Future researchers can use this research as a stepping stone to conduct further
researches to help the Ghana Education Service.
The following are the recommendations made:
Teachers as role models should develop a positive attitude to the teaching and
learning of English language especially phonics in the Secondary school so that
pupils will emulate them.
A different approach or technique and use of varied models should be adopted
by teachers in the teaching and handling of phonic especially at the secondary
level.
Teachers should always bear the pain and anxieties of attending to each pupil
and give him or her the needed assistance when appropriate so that they can all
benefit from lessons.
In conclusion, parents should not make the education of their wards the sole
responsibility of teachers. But see themselves as partners who have a role to play
for the successful development and the attainment of their children’s potentials.
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They should continually be encouraged to provide basic materials like exercise
books, pencils, textbooks and others to enable their children to enjoy composition
writing and the entire educational process as a whole.
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USING PHONIC METHOD TO IMPROVE POOR READING ABILITY OF PUPILS AT
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Appendices
Appendix A: Phonic Slide
F
N
S
X
D
I
P
B
G
S
T
P
N
Movable Slide
Appendix B: Phonic Wheel
and
ong
ad
ack
on
ap
un
at
APPENDIX C
The Rhyme
A man in a hat,
Saw a ram in a cap.
So he took an axe,
From a mat,
And ran after the ram.
The ram ran and ran
And the man ran and ran!
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